Abstract:

The Paleolithic archaeological work in the Fujiang River valley in northwestern Chongqing is almost blank. In the early years, sporadic archaeological surveys and excavations were carried out in Hechuan, with a small number of paleolithic artifacts discovered, making it difficult to fully understand the distribution of paleolithic sites and the technical facets of the lithic industry in this area. On the occasion of the joint archaeological survey of the Fujiang River valley conducted by Sichuan and Chongqing, the Chongqing Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute and School of Culture Heritage of Northwest University collaborated to carry out a special survey of Paleolithic archaeology in the Fujiang River Valley, from March to April 2022. This survey had discovered 46 new Paleolithic sites, densely distributed in the 3-8 terraces on both sides of the main stream of Fujiang River, a total of 833 lithic artifacts were collected. Most of the lithic artifacts came from ground surface, a few were found in the exposed strata.

After preliminary analysis, we can found out that the raw materials of lithic artifacts were mostly taken from the gravel layer nearby, they were made of a single raw material, with quartzite taking the absolute advantage. Also lithic artifacts revealed various knapping methods, large flakes production technology was extremely mature. There were many types of the artifacts, especially the combination of hand axes, picks, and cleavers-like tools and the productions of large flakes technology were featured. The majority of the tools were made by flakes, their working edges appeared to be retouched by one-side direct hammer percussion, the retouched scars mostly was single layer. The overall size of the lithic artifacts was thick and heavy, the large sizes dominated, with medium and huge sizes also making up a significant fraction of the total, the shape and size of lithic artifacts varied greatly. From a technological and typological perspective, at least three different techniques can be observed from these lithic artifacts, including pebble techniques, flake techniques and Acheulean techniques.

According to the terrace context, stratigraphic deposit and assemblages, it is inferred that these sites may span a small range of ages, the time of which should be broadly concentrated in the Middle-Late Pleistocene. The new discoveries in the lower Fujiang River contrast with the previously discovered lithic industry in the Three Gorges region, with differences clearly greater than commonalities, technically related but with more regional specificities. The results of this survey indicate that Fujiang River Valley was also an active area of early human migration, dispersal and survival evolution, with a significant influence on the study of the distribution and transmission routes of Acheulean technology.

Key words: Northwest Chongqing, Fujiang River, Stone artifacts, Handaxe